The disclosure relates generally to the use of identification codes in the handling and management of communications.
Various types of communication exist including telephone, electronic mail (email), facsimile (fax), paging, specialized wireless communications (such as Personal Digital Assistants), postal mail, and instant messaging. Managing the different types of communications has become increasingly complex for individuals as well as companies and organizations. For example, individuals may have multiple versions of a given type of communication, such as both business and home email addresses, as well as home, business, and wireless telephone numbers. Furthermore, the types of communications are becoming less distinct. Callers can retrieve email messages by telephone by having the messages read to them using text-to-speech synthesis, and can reply by voice. The reply voice messages may, in some implementations, be sent as an audio file attachment to an email message.
Applicant's pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/618,145, filed Jul. 11, 2000, discloses techniques for handling and managing communications. As disclosed in that application, an individual can use a single identification code to send different types of communications. The intended recipient of a communication can control how the communication is handled based on the identification code of the sender to avoid unwanted contacts and to manage the receipt of different types of messages. The system can be used, for example, to detect and prevent the owner of an identification code from sending repeated mass transmissions or reaching a recipient without that recipient's explicit or implicit permission.
A problem, however, may arise if one person misappropriates another person's identification code and uses it to communicate with a third party, in effect impersonating the valid holder of the identification code.